Developing a Quality Assurance Model for Iranian Higher Education System: Agriculture and Natural Resources Faculty Member's View Point

International experiences indicate that there is no general model for quality assurance. However, quality assurance practices have some common components in most countries. Based on the review of literature, these are eight elements which are common in most quality assurance practices. These elements are: agency, involvement, reference of quality indicators, assessment methods, focus, purpose (function), reporting and follow up activities. The aim of this research is to develope a quality assurance model based on these eight elments as, perceived by faculty members in agriculture department. The results show that ministry of Science, Research, and Technology should initiate a national agency of quality assurance and the NGOs should determine standards and involve in external assessment process. In addition, every university should establish its own bureau for quality assurance with units in its faculties. In the proposed quality assurance model, voluntary-evaluation, participatory and soft procedures rather than compulsory-penalizing, judgmental, centralized and hard ones are rewarding towards promoting the quality culture in higher education in Iran.